Feng Shui Design: Harmonious Apartment Living | The Presley

Feng shui is the ancient Chinese practice of arranging spaces in a way that promotes health, harmony, and balance. The principles of feng shui can be used both inside and out of your apartment to guide your design aesthetic, create a positive environment, and enjoy a healthier lifestyle. 

Apartments provide a unique opportunity for you to craft the perfect vibe. They’re smaller size makes it easy to balance the space, minimize clutter and chaos, and attract the universal energy you want. 

The Presley Apartments in Oklahoma City have redefined apartment living with luxury designs, amenities, and accommodations that help bring a healthy, balanced lifestyle within reach. Located in the heart of the city’s Historic District, The Presley offers a carefully curated experience that combines the best of form and function for a sophisticated, fuss-free flow you can truly feel.

The Basics of Feng Shui

The practice of feng shui originated in China as a method of aligning a person’s environment with who they are and where they want their life to go. Practitioners of feng shui believe that every object has its own energy, and being smart about how this energy fills a space can make a big difference in how a person feels and even whether they succeed in their endeavors.

Feng shui focuses on three major principles: 

1. Chi, the forces of both positive and negative energy. Chi contains two primary forces,  yin (which is more reserved, contemplative, and feminine) and yang (which is more excitable, action-oriented, and masculine.) In addition to balancing yin and yang, feng shui emphasizes the role of an item’s physical location in hindering or helping the flow of chi in a space.

2. The five elements (wood, fire, earth, metal, and water). Feng shui tries to create a balance among the elements; for example, having an apartment of all fire-element décor can lead a person to be unbalanced, stressed, and angry. 

3. A location’s “commanding position” (that is, the location furthest away from the door but still in view of it). People tend to spend most of their time in the commanding position of their space because it is the most private and comfortable, so decorating this area well is especially important. 

Whether you want to leverage feng shui for its classical energy principles or simply want some inspiration for how to create your perfect space, approaching decoration and apartment design with intentionality is vital in this modern age. From the ever-present electronics and screens to high work stress, being able to come home to a balanced and rejuvenating apartment can help all other aspects of your life. In fact, studies have repeatedly shown that how a space is organized has real-world consequences on a person’s mental health. When a home is cluttered and not following many of the commonly applied principles of feng shui, it can create stress and raise cortisol levels. Disorganized spaces can even encourage negative behaviors such as procrastination.

How to Use Feng Shui Design in Your Apartment

Incorporating feng shui into your apartment is simpler than you might think. The easiest approach is to take it one room at a time. However, remember that no matter which room you’re decorating, consider only what is useful and valuable to you. Avoid clutter, either by throwing away or donating what you don’t need. Clutter interrupts the flow of energy and fresh air in your space and can leave you feeling stressed, tired, and unmotivated, even if everything else in your life seems to be going well.

The Living Area

Your living space is the area in which you entertain visitors and also care for yourself. This requires allowing as much energy and vibrance to flow through the space as possible. Plants are a great way to contribute to this sense of life and vigor, because they are living things that have their own natural yang energy. Plants are wood-element decorations, embodying the colors blue and green and fostering familial bonds and peaceful self-care. 

Other sources of feng shui energy in the living space include sunlight and natural air. 

You can do this by:

• Replacing your curtains with sheer material to allow more natural light into the room.
• Setting up decorations like bookshelves and TVs in such a manner that you have access to the windows to open them when possible.
• Add a mirror to the wall opposite the windows to increase the sense of scale in the space and spread more natural brightness. 
• Placing your main seat, such as a sofa or futon, near a wall far from the door (the commanding position) but not directly up against the wall.

The Bedroom

The bedroom is the space for tranquility, rest, and calmness. Be sure to choose décor with low (yin) energy; otherwise, you might find yourself restless at night. That means plants are out! Instead, choose décor that offers the pleasant simplicity of symmetry: bookshelves, side tables, wall scrolls, and more. Stick to muted, relaxing colors like blues, grays, and browns to avoid stimulating the mind with energy. Good décor for a bedroom is often soft, both to engender a sense of security and to absorb bothersome sounds that could keep you awake. Shag rugs and decorative pillows thrive here!

Bedroom feng shui also leans heavily on bed position. Put your bed far away from the door to the room, but not directly across from it; instead, offset it to the side. This prevents the energy from the vibrant living room from directly washing into the serenity of the bedroom. Keep space both on each side of the bed and underneath it clean and open so that air can flow.

The Kitchen

The kitchen is a fire-element room thanks to big installations like your stove. Balance this out by ensuring the other elements also see their time to shine: a clean sink (water), polished appliances (metal), fresh food (earth), and ideally décor of your choice that leans into the wood element (such as natural cabinets, wooden cooking utensils and cutting boards, or even chairs with natural wood grain patterning). The kitchen is a huge repository of energy because it’s where you fulfill some of your most basic needs, so treat it right!

Another thing to consider is decoration weight when creating a perfect feng shui kitchen. If you hang your pots and pans, do so near the ground (e.g., inside a cabinet) rather than on the wall above you. Heavy metal high in the room can invite a sense of burden and sluggishness—instead, you want this vertical space to be open, bright, and airy. For the same reasons, invest in good lighting for your kitchen, and consider décor (such as hand towels) that are lighter in color, too.

Finding Feng Shui Design Outside

Feng shui applies to any space in which you exist—not just inside your apartment. This means that how your apartment complex orders itself with amenities and design can also have a big impact on your well-being. Apartment setups like those at The Presley Apartments keep many useful feng shui principles in mind, such as the placement and size of natural spaces and the balance of yin and yang.

For instance, The Presley’s focus on natural outdoor enrichment is a powerful way to increase yang energy—the vibrant, life-giving inspiration that leaves you feeling enriched and healthy. From natural green spaces in which to play to well-kept pools and lots of natural greenery, these apartments ensure you always have access to energizing vibes.

At the same time, feng shui is all about balance—and you can’t have yang without yin. Yin energy is dark, still, peaceful, and contemplative. From quiet secluded seating areas to sleek, modern amenities that embody metal and earth elements for a grounded experience, The Presley Apartments incorporate yin to balance out the exuberance of the yang.

Discover the Peace and Tranquility of Feng Shui Design at The Presley Apartments

At The Presley Apartments, you’ll find the best of everything you never knew you needed to live a life that’s balanced and harmonious. Here, it’s easy to create the luxury lifestyle you’ve always wanted without sacrificing convenience or community. We invest in our residents by cultivating a high-quality, contemporary atmosphere that still feels like home, where you can both relax and thrive. Schedule a tour today or fill out an application and find the stunning yet simple floor plan that’s perfect for starting your future.